Humans are often portrayed as gullible, being easily influenced by charismatic figures, majority opinion, deceitful advertising, or even fake news. The evidence shows on the contrary that we are skilled at evaluating all sorts of messages, and that persuading people en masse is incredibly difficult.
-
Speaker
Hugo Mercier is a cognitive scientist working at the Jean Nicod Institute in Paris. He is the author of The Enigma of Reason (with Dan Sperber) and, most recently, of Not Born Yesterday: The Science of Who We Trust and What We Believe.